Sometimes It's Easier (To Be a Bastard) (Evy Story 68)
by quietandsneaky
Summary: John finds out a disturbing secret about Sam. One that drives John to go to Stanford with the intention of taking Evy away from him. But can he follow through? Rated T for slight language.


**Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character of Evelyn Winchester does.**

 **A/N: I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I'm not a John hater, so please don't think that. I just enjoy exploring his reasoning behind some of the things he does.**

 **Also, there is another chapter coming to Till It's Gone. This story here just wouldn't leave me alone until I actually wrote it.**

John teetered carefully on the edge of the speed limit. The last thing he needed right now was for some zealous state trooper to pull him over for speeding. He didn't know if he had the ability at the moment to come up with a believable story, and he was just panicked enough that he might tell the truth.

 _Sorry, officer, but I'm on my way to kidnap my daughter from my son._

As John drove, he let his mind ponder on what the demon had told him. He knew there was a chance that the demon was lying, but he couldn't take the chance. He'd failed Evy many times before, but he wouldn't do it now. The idea of what might happen was too hard. The demon's words rolled through his brain again, sending a shiver up John's spine.

 _You don't get it, do you? Yellow eyes wasn't after your wife. She just got in the way. He wanted your son. Your son's gonna lead us one day._

John had refused to believe it at first, but research had proven that the rest of what the demon had said was true. Other babies had lost their mother in a nursery fire like Sammy. A cause for the fire hadn't been found in all but one of the fires, and that fire was still deemed suspicious. John had slowly come to the realization that the demon was telling the truth. Sam was going to lead demons one day.

He was determined to find a way to save Sam from that fate one day, but right now, he had to get Evy away from Sam. Evy had turned twelve a few weeks earlier, and had been living with Sam in Palo Alto since right before her tenth birthday. John had been to see them a few times, but they had never seen him. He missed the both of them terribly. It hurt every single day to wake up and not see them. It was even harder when Dean was gone on a hunt or out with some woman that he'd met the night before. Those mornings of loneliness weighed heavy on John's heart. But he'd comforted himself with the thought that at least Sam and Evy were safe and happy. He'd missed his opportunity to give that to Dean, but hey, two out of three wasn't bad.

John shook his head to rid himself of that thought. He couldn't let himself dwell on that now. If he did, he would likely crash his truck. For the first time since Evy's birth, he wished that he'd followed his instinct after Missy died. If he had, Evy likely would have been adopted by a loving family and wouldn't have to be stuck in John's mess. It wasn't fair. Evy had nothing to do with the demon, but because of Sam's and ultimately John's attachment to her, he had kept her. John loved her more than his own life, but at the moment, he couldn't help but fear that abandonment at the hospital and giving her the chance at a better life would have been kinder.

John knew he was going to have a tough time getting Evy away from Sam. Even though Sam was much more permissive with Evy than John had ever been, he was, in a way, much more overprotective. John knew that Sam worried about John coming and taking Evy back, but until this past week, John had never really considered it. He also thought about Sam's threat the night he'd taken Evy back to Stanford with him. _Dad, these are guardianship papers. If you don't sign them and let me take Evy tonight, I'm calling CPS._ John knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he took Evy from Sam now, Sam would call the cops instead of CPS. John would be a fugitive. Though it would be far from the first time, charges of kidnapping, even if it were his own daughter, were much harder to beat than most others.

 _You'll have to cross that bridge when you come to it._

But would he be able to cross this bridge? Sam knew almost all of John and Dean's aliases. John knew that Sam loved him, but had no doubt that if there was a chance he would lose Evy, Sam would not hesitate to let the police call the FBI. John didn't know if he'd be able to outrun an FBI manhunt. Should he just leave Sam a note explaining that he'd taken Evy to keep her safe, and that if Sam took her back, he was putting her back in danger?

 _Like Sam ever listened to you about that before._

John was almost at the exit to Stanford, and his mind was reeling. He was never this indecisive. Taking Evy with him was the safest thing to do. But how safe would she be on the run? And how safe would she be with Sam? Sam could turn at any time. Finally, John pulled up to the apartments where Sam lived. He had made a plan. It was a simple enough-go to a motel, steal a different car, go 'visit' Evy at her school, convince her that Sam had said it was okay for him to take her to lunch, then take her from there. But first, he wanted to check on her.

He spotted Sam's girlfriend first. She crept around the side of the building, finger in front of her mouth, a massive water gun in her hand. Evy was behind her, crouching down so low that her long, wavy brown hair was almost dragging on the ground. She held her own water gun in her hand. Around the other corner came Sam and another friend of theirs that John had run a background check on before but couldn't remember the name of now. Grady maybe?

Jess and Evy suddenly aimed both guns at both the boys and fired. The other boy hit the ground first. Sam raised his water gun and fired, only to have Evy aim perfectly for his hand. A shocked Sam dropped the water gun and ran forward. A furiously giggling Evy hid behind Jess, who tried to block Sam from getting at Evy by grabbing him and kissing him. When Jess had Sam distracted, Evy came from behind Jess and started to tickle her big brother.

"No fair!" John heard Sam call.

"All's fair in love and war, baby." Jess said, joining Evy in her surprise tickle attack.

If Sam said anything else, John never heard it. Evy and Jess intensified their surprise attack on Sam, and their friend decided to pick up one of the biggest water guns and spray all of them at a time. John watched for close to a half hour, until finally the sun was beginning to go down. The whole time, John was preparing himself to accept the truth. As worried as he was about Evy. she was much safer there with Sam. Dragging her on the road with him only to leave her behind when he went on a hunt would only put her in a different kind of danger and lead to more heartache than she was already in. It would also be better for him. He would worry about Evy, but he would just have to step up his visits to come and see the both of them. Evy still called him, even though he never picked up the phone. He'd just have to have faith that if something bad happened, she'd tell him.

His heart aching, John drove away. He was grateful no one was with him, and he could cry freely. He could also be honest with himself. All the reasons he'd given himself not to take Evy earlier were complete crap. She was happy where she was. She was thriving where she was. She had the family he'd wanted to try and give her as a newborn. She had a real mom in Jess and a real dad in Sam. Sam had long been Evy's father, something John didn't like to admit out loud but he knew was true. John decided that night to step up his hunt for the demon. It was time to end all the misery it had caused and, hopefully, work towards reuniting his family. There were no leads at the moment, but he soon enough found another hunt fairly close by. He was heading out two days later to Jericho.

Before leaving, he stopped off to watch Evy walk into her school building. She was laughing with one of her friends, an older girl also named Evelyn that John had looked into just like their friend Brady. John had been going back and forth on his decision to leave Evy there. He had always put safety before his children's happiness. It just didn't feel right leaving her here knowing what he knew about Sam. But when he thought about one of the arguments he'd had with Sam, his decision was made. Evy had been in kindergarten, and begged to go on a field trip with her class. When John had said no, that she couldn't go because it wasn't safe, Evy had asked again. John, never patient with having to repeat himself, had swatted Evy hard a few times and yelled at her to get over it as she ran sobbing from him and into Sam's arms. Sam's reply to him as he held the shaking Evy in his arms had never been lost to John.

 _You can say no without being a bastard about it._

Even though they would never know he'd done it, John decided not to be a bastard this time. He started the truck and took one last look at Evy.

"I'm sorry, little one. Stay safe. Daddy loves you."


End file.
